Year: 2011

Quintain Estates today revealed that it has sold it’s completed student accomodation scheme at Elephant & Castle in London for £34 million today. The loss-making urban regeneration specialist needed a quick sale to avoid the carrying costs.

Known as Dashwood Studios, located on Walworth Road, just three minutes from Elephant & Castle tube station, Dashwood provides 232 student studios and  opened for this academic year. It is 100% let at rents of between of £220 and £280 a room. The asset is managed by Fresh Student Living. The retail units on the ground floor  are under offer.

The sale price of £34 million compares with the 31 March 2011 site valuation of £14.7 million and subsequent construction expenditure of £17.8 million, though Quintain have not revealed what they paid for the site …

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The University of Sussex has expressed its “keen interest” in a potential new student housing development in central Brighton.

Brighton & Hove residents have been invited to comment on a planning application by developer Watkin Jones to demolish the 80-year-old Co-op building in London Road, Brighton – which has stood empty for a number of years – and replace it with a building containing 407 student rooms.

The University’s interest in the proposed six-storey development arises from a growth in student numbers, which in turn has increased demand for accommodation …

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Rob Greaves, senior acquisition manager of student housing giant Opal Property Group, has been promoted to the new role of development director of subsidiary Ocon Construction.

Greaves joined Manchester-based Opal in 1998 and has helped the company build up a 10% share of the UK student beds market.

Opal, which is 100% owned by Stuart Wall, has 20,000 rooms in 16 cities in a portfolio with a net asset value of nearly £250m …

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Three property businesses in Filey have gone into administration.

Hunter Kelly and John Sumpton from Ernst & Young have been appointed as joint administrators to Bluesight Limited, Hirondelle Wines Limited and Wold Investments Limited, all based at the 5 Leys self-catering holiday apartments development.

Also included in the Group is 70-bed student accommodation development in Sheffield and residential properties in Driffield, Scarborough and Lincoln …

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An investigation into student numbers could thwart both Oxford universities’ hopes of moving into multi-million pound new campuses.

The city council probe will look at claims thousands more Students than previously admitted live in privately- rented homes in the city.

A dossier put together by East Oxford residents alleges far more students at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University live in city homes than stated in their annual reports to the council …

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A new student hall of residence is to be constructed in London by Mansell after the company successfully won the contract.

The contractor is to begin work on the £18.5 million scheme which will create mixed use developments at 465/465a Caledonian Road, Islington for Mortar Developments …

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Plans have been submitted to build a new block of student flats in Leicester, leaving residents asking if the city really needs more purpose built student homes.

Developer Cranford Estates Ltd is seeking permission from Leicester City Council to demolish empty commercial units behind Leicester Royal Infirmary, and build a six-storey complex with 111 student rooms …

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Many more commercial companies are expected to get involved in running parts of universities as the tripling of tuition fees has removed a major barrier to private-sector involvement, it has emerged.

David Willetts, the universities and science minister, used his speech at the Conservative Party conference this week to indicate that the shift from public to private funding in higher education had changed the game for investment by businesses in the sector.

Speaking in Manchester, he said that European Union rules that can deter universities from contracting out services would no longer apply for the “vast majority” of institutions …

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Two car parks in Northampton’s town centre could soon make way for the development of a hotel and a block of student flats.

Northampton Borough Council has revealed a company wants to build a 107-bed, three-star hotel on the Albion Place car park, near the Royal & Derngate theatre.

The University of Northampton has also revealed plans to build 510 student homes on the nearby St John’s open air car park. The council has estimated that so many students moving into the town centre site would pump an extra £2.9 million a year into the town’s economy …

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Leicester City Council said it will consider taking legal action against the owner of a Victorian factory if it does not make changes to the building.

Two weeks ago graffiti appeared on the former Great Central Railway wagon repair works, in Upperton Road, Leicester, and windows were blocked up from the outside.

The building is the subject of a planning application by Jamie Lewis Residential to demolish it and build an eight-storey block of student flats …

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